With Borrowed Helmets And Fragmented Jackets For Parade, Nigerian Army Graduates Counter-Terrorism Soldiers

The Batch 6 of soldiers trained for counter terrorism operation graduated in Jaji, Kaduna State, this morning. The troops, however, did not receive a befitting treatment from the concerned authorities, a source told ekekeeeDOTcom. The source said the Batch 6 team was denied of the requisite kits for the operations they’ll be embarking on, and wondered where the huge sum appropriated for security in this year’s budget has gone to if issues as elementary as soldiers’ kits can’t be made available for all concerned personnel.

As at the time of this report, the morale of the passing out soldiers was dampened. The authorities later brought borrowed helmets and fragmented jackets and handed out to those who were slated to be part of the passing out parade.

Speaking further, our source said; “They were supposed to be kitted with 2 pairs of uniform, boot, ballistic helmet, fragmental jacket and communication gadgets.
But the unfortunate thing is that only the 1st and 2nd Batches received complete
kits, all other batches were incomplete. This 6th batch happens to be the worst, because they were only given a pair of uniform; all other things that will give
them the courage to fight, like helmets, jackets, boots and communication gadgets were missing. The soldiers’ moral is down. Where is huge amount budgeted for security?”

Definitely, the question of where the amount appropriated for security need asking. The incompleteness of the military kits do not in itself determine the performence of a soldier on the field. The courage to fight comes from within. It is an embodiment of the mind and the quality of training imbibed. However, the issue of those basic military kits only aid in galvanizing a soldier’s resolve to fight when called upon.

We should not confuse the lack of military issue with the ability to fight when called upon to do so. This should indeed lead the NASS to carry their statury oversight function in investigating what the money appropriated for security is used for. Though, you should expect nothing of such, cos they feel it is the best way to keep the military out of their way.